After reading about yet
another error with city, county and state business deals with vendors failing
to perform, one after another, I'm beginning to believe that none of our agency
purchasing agents have ever heard of a performance bond.

If any of these three
entities were a business, they'd be out of business. Perhaps, this is why we
have budget shortfalls in virtually every agency and not enough money for
schools, roads, the homeless, etc.

Spike Friedman

Southeast Portland

Legal aid bill

I applaud some of Sen.
Betsy Johnson's maverick votes — like when she voted against the bill about
smoking in cars with children, a step into "nanny-statery" if there ever was
one. But I do not understand what she has against legal aid.

Offending corporations
get to keep unclaimed damages from class-action suits? That's like giving your
kid a bonus to her allowance right after she blows off all her chores.
Ridiculous.

Lisa Myers Warmington

Southeast Portland

•

It should have been a
no-brainer: Unclaimed damages would go to Oregon's legal aid services, instead
of back to the company that was sued.

Of course, our state
legislators would see what a perfect solution that was. Other decisions had to
be made; this was an easy one, just and compassionate.

But no. It was voted down.
Once again, it was the greedy against the needy, and the greedy won. I am both
sad and disgusted.